Academic References

The material used in 1001 inventions was thoroughly researched and academically checked against numerous reputable works whether books, journal articles or research papers. The 1001 Inventions book provided a short list of selected readings which the reader can refer to for further information. The full comprehensive list of references, however, was not published to avoid complicating things for the reader as the book text was designed for the general public and not for academics or specialists. In order to satisfy the concerns and critics of our respectable readers we produced this list separately which we put at your disposal below.

Kafadar, Cemal 2002: A History of Coffee, The XIIIth Congress of the International Economic History Association (IEHA), Buenos Aires, 22-26 July 2002, Session 64: "Commodities: understanding the global economy through the history of things, 1000-2000 CE" (see Introduction to session 64 by Sven Beckert and Cemal Kafadar).

Willis, John E. Jr. 1993: "European Consumption and Asian Production", Consumption and the World of Goods, edited by John Brewer and Roy Porter, Routledge, London, 133-147.

Yaşar, Ahmet 2003: The Coffeehouses in Early Modern Istanbul: Public Space, Sociability and Surveillance. Thesis submitted to the Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History. Istanbul: Boğaziçi University.

Al-Jazari (ca. 1206): Al-Jami’ bayn al-’Ilm al-Nafi’ fi Sina’at al-Hiyal, or A Compendium on the Theory and Practice of the Mechanical Arts known also as Kitab fi Ma’rifat al-Hiyal al-Handasiya (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices). Istanbul, Suleymaniye Library, Ayasofya, MS 3606. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has a page of this book entitled Kitab fi ma’rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya. Written in Syria and dated 1315, it is from the Mamluk period. The original book was completed in Diyar Bakr (in modern day Turkey) in 1206 CE. It contains descriptions and illustrations of clocks, fountains, machines for raising water, pumps, and various other devices.

Al-Jazari 1979: Al-Jami' bayna al-'ilm wa-'l-'amal al-nafi' fi sina'at al-hiyal (A Compendium on the Theory and Practice of the Mechanical Arts) by Ibn Al-Razzaz Al-Jazari (1206), edited by Ahmad Y.Al-Hassan. Aleppo: Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic Sciences, University of Aleppo.

Hill, Donald R. 1974: The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. An annotated translation of al-Jazarī's Treatise. Dordrecht: Reidel. English translation of the major treatise of al-Jazarī.

Al-Suli: Kitab al-shatranj, or Muntahab Kitab al-shatranj (Book of Chess or Selections from the Book of Chess). Suleymaniye Library, Lala Ismail 560. As-Suli was the author of Kitab Ash-Shatranj (Book of Chess). This was the first scientific book ever written on chess strategy. It contained information on common chess openings, middle game problems, and annotated endgames. It also contained the first known description of the knight’s tour problem, studied in Yakov Damsky 2005: The Book of Chess Records, Batsford, pp. 166-167.

Al-Zahrawi: Kitab al-Tasrif Liman ‘Ajaz ‘an al-Ta’lif or Al-Tasrif (The disposal of medical knowledge to he who is not able to get it by himself). Istanbul, Suleymaniye Library, MS Hacıbesir 502 and Rabat, Al-Khizana al-Hasaniyya, MS 134.

Al-Jazari 1979: Al-Jami’ bayna al-ilm wa-al-amal al-naf fi sinaat al-hiyal, or The Book of Ingenious Devices. Aleppo: Institute for the History of Arabic Science. The standard edition of the Arabic text of Al-Jazari’s treatise.

Bir, Atilla 1990: Kitab al-hiyal of Banu Musa bin Shakir Interpreted in the Sense of Modern System and Control Engineering.. Preface and edition by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu (Studies and Sources on the History of Science, 4). Istanbul: Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and Culture (IRCICA).

Smith, A. M. 2001: Alhacen's Theory of Visual Perception: A Critical Edition, with English Translation and Commentary of the First Three Books of Alhacen's De Aspectibus, the Medieval Latin Version of Ibn al-Haytham's Kitab al-Manazir. 2 vols. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.

Makdisi, George 1961: "Muslim Institutions of Learning in Islam and in the West." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (London) vol. 24, pp. 1-56.

Makdisi, George 1970: "Madrasa and University in the Middle Ages", Studia Islamica, No. 32, pp. 255-264.

Makdisi, George 1980: “On the origin and development of the college in Islam and the West”, in Islam and the Medieval West: Aspects of Intercultural Relations, edited by Khalil I. Semaan. State University of New York at Binghamton. Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, pp. 26-49.

Makdisi, George 1981: The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Al-Rammah, Murad 1995: “The Ancient Library of Kairaouan and its methods of conservation”, in The Conservation and preservation of Islamic manuscripts, Proceedings of the Third Conference of Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, London, pp. pp 29-47.

Atiyeh, George N. (editor) 1995: The Book in the Islamic World: The Written Word and Communication in the Middle East. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Al-Biruni: Kitab al-Athar al-Baqiyya ‘an al-Qurun al-Khaliyya, or Chronology of Ancient Nations, also known as Vestiges of the Past. Suleymaniye Library, Ayasofya, MS 2947. Translated into German and into English by C. Eduard Sachau as: Chronologie orientalischer völker. The Chronology of Ancient Nations. An English Version of the Arabic text of al-Athar al-baqiya... of al-Biruni, or ‛Vestiges of the Past’. London, 1879. Reprinted by Fuat Sezgin; Frankfurt: Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, 1998.

Al-Khwarizmi: Kitab al-Mukhtasar fi Hisab al-Jabr wa-‘l-Muqabala: Compendious Book of Calculation by Completion and Balancing. Medina, MS Hikmat jabr 4, 6; Princeton University Library, New Jersey, USA has a copy of this book. It contains algebra, integration, simple equations, surveying and testamentary regulations for divisions of inheritances. Robert of Chester was the first to translate this book into Latin in 1145 CE which introduced algebra into Europe. Later on this book was translated by Gerard of Cremona also. The translation by Robert Chester of Khwarizmi's algebra marks the beginning of the era of the introduction and advancement of this branch of science in Europe. "The importance of Robert's Latin translation of Khwarizmi's algebra", says a modern historian of science, "can hardly be exaggerated because it marked the beginning of European algebra."

Al-Razi: Kitab al Asrar, or The Book of the Secret of the Secrets. Istanbul University Library, Sarkiyat, MS E 77, and the National Library of Medicine, USA, MS A 33 item 9. It contains a description of laboratory equipment.

Jabir ibn Hayyan: Kitab al-Sab‘in, or Book of Seventy Treatises on Alchemy. Istanbul University Library, MS AY 6314. This book contains: Al-Khawass al-Kabir or ‘Great Book of Chemical Properties’, Al-Mawazin or ‘The Weights and Measures’; Al-Mizaj or ‘The Chemical Combination’; and Al-Asbagh or ‘The Dyes’.

Jabir Ibn Hayyan 1986: Kitab al-Sab’in. The Book of Seventy. Introduction in Arabic and English by F. Sezgin. Frankfurt: Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften. Edition in facsimile of a copy dated from the 13th century of an important text of the corpus of Jabir Ibn Hayyan devoted to chemistry and alchemy.

Hawi, S. 1973: “Ibn Tufayl's Hayy Ibn Yaqzan: Its Structure, Literary Aspects and Methods”, Islamic Culture, vol. 47, pp. 191-211. (Focuses on the most essential elements of the work, insisting that it is not a 'symbolic expression' but a 'philosophical discourse'.)

Hawi, S. 1976: “Ibn Tufayl's Appraisal of His Predecessors and Their Influence on His Thought'” International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 7, pp. 89-121. (An attempt to show Ibn Tufayl's originality and the influence on him of al-Farabi and al-Ghazali, rather than Ibn Sina.)

Ibn Tufayl 1708: The improvement of human reason, exhibited in the life of Hai ebn Yokdhan, written in Arabick above 500 years ago, by Abu Jaafar ebn Tophail, newly translated from the original Arabick, by Simon Ockley. With an appendix, in which the possibility of man's attaining the true knowledg of God, and things necessary to salvation, without instruction, is briefly consider'd. London: Printed and sold by E. Powell.

Ibn Tufayl, Abu Bakr 1929: The history of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, translated from the Arabic by Simon Ockley, revised, with an introdroduction by A.S. Fulton. London: Chapman and Hall, (omits the introductory section)

Bolens, L. 1997: "Agriculture", in Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in Non Western Cultures, edited by Helaine Selin, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht/Boston/London, pp. 20-22.

Ibn al-Awwam: Kitab al-Filaha, or Book of Agriculture. Istanbul University Library, TY 5823 and Library of the Topkapi Palace Museum, Hazine 429. There is also a French copy in the Library of Congress, USA, entitled Le livre l’agriculture d’ Ibn Awam. Library/Call Number S.493.I.1814.

Al-Idrisi: Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi ‘khtirak al-Afaq or Al-Kitab al-Rujari, or A Recreation for the Person who Longs to Traverse the Horizons or Book of Roger. Istanbul, Suleymaniye Library, Husrev Pasa, MS 318.

Abulafia, David 1994: "The Role of Trade in Muslim-Christian Contacts during the Middle Ages," in The Arab Influence in Medieval Europe, edited by Dionisius A. Agius and Richard Hitchcock. Reading, N.J.: Ithaca Press, 1994.

Chaudhuri, K. N. 1985: Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fleet, Kate 1999: European and Islamic Trade in the Early Ottoman State: The Merchants of Genoa and Turkey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fischel, Walter 1933: "The Origins of Banking in Medieval Islam: A Contribution to the Economic History of Jews in Baghdad in the Tenth Century," Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 339-352.

Al-Hassan, Ahmad Y 1987: "Chemical Technology in Arabic Military Treatises. A Review of the Sources". In: From Deferent to Equant. Edited by D. A. King and G. Saliba. New York: New York Academy of Science, pp. 153-166.

Levey, Martin 1962: Mediaeval Arabic Bookmaking and its Relation to Early Chemistry and Pharmacology. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (New Series), vol. 52, part 4.

Levey, Martin 1962: "Mediaeval Arabic Bookmaking and Its Relation to Early Chemistry and Pharmacology". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 52(4), pp. 1–79.

Ibn Sina: Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, or Code of Laws in Medicine, referred to as the Canon. There are many old copies of this book in circulation. Suleymaniye Library, Hekimoglu 580. Copies (one in Latin) are also in Princeton University, New Jersey, Garrett Collection, MSS 1079, 1080, 1081, 1082 and 1083.

Spink, M. S., Lewis, I. L. 1973: Albucassis on surgery and instruments. A definitive edition of the Arabic text with English translation and commentary. London : Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine.

Al-Razi: Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tib, .the book of the collector of medicine or Rhazes’ Liber continens. Istanbul, Library of the Topkapi Palace Museum, Ahmed III collection, MS 2125. The National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, also has a copy dated 1094 CE, which is the oldest manuscript kept by the library and the third oldest Arabic medical manuscript known so far: MS A17f.

Ibn al-Quff: Kitab al-‘Umda fi sina‘at al-jiraha: Basics in the Art of Surgery. Istanbul, Suleymaniye Library, Hekimoglu, MS 579. The Wellcome Trust Library, London, UK has a copy of this book which has been translated as A Pillar in the Art of Surgery. Library Number Wellcome MS Arabic 434.

Spink MS, Lewis IL. 1973: Albucassis on surgery and instruments. A definitive edition of the Arabic text with English translation and commentary, edited and translated. London: Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine.

Ibn al-Nafis: Sharh Tashrih al-Qanun, or Commentary on the Anatomy of the Canon of Avicenna. Istanbul, Suleymaniye Library, Fatih, MS 3626; The National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, MS A 21, MS A 56.

Ibn Sina: Kitab al-Shifa’, or The Book of Cure, Healing or Remedy from Ignorance. Library of the Topkapi Palace Museum, Ahmed III, MS 3261. The University of Michigan in Chicago, Near East Division, USA, has some parts of a copy of this book: Heyworth-Dunne, MS 65.

Ibn Isa, ‘Ali: Tadhkirat al-Kahhalin, or Memorandum Book for Ophthalmologists or Notebook of the Oculist. Vatican Library, MS 313.

Ibn Isa: Tadhkirat al-Kahhalin. Translated into German by J. Hirschberg and J. Lippert (Leipzig, 1904), and into English by Casey A. Wood: The Tadhkirat of Ali ibn Isa of Baghdad. Memorandum Book of a 10th-Century Oculist. Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 1936.

Al-Razi: Kitab al-Mansuri, or Liber almansoris. The manuscript was written for the Iranian prince Abu Salih al-Mansur ibn Ishaq in 903. Bethesda, Maryland, USA, MS A 28. The manuscript copy, which is dated of the 17th century, has a diagram of ventricles of cells in the brain.

Ibn al-Dhahabi: Kitab al-Ma’a, or The Book of Water. A copy of the manuscript is kept in Tlemcen, Algeria.Edeited version is published by Ministry of Heritage Oman.

Ibn al-Jazzar: Zad al-Musafir, or The Guide for the Traveller Going to Distant Countries or Traveller’s Provision, known in Latin as the Viaticum. Trans. and ed. by Gerrit Bos: Pub. London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 2000.

Ibn al-Nafis: Al-Shamil fi al-Tibb, or Comprehensive Book on the Art of Medicine. Istanbul, Koprulu Library, I. Kisim, MS 987/1; Vatican Library, MS 306; Bethesda, Maryland, The National Library of Medicine, MS A 43, MS A 44 and MS A 44/1. One manuscript copy of the Bethesda collection, entitled Kitab al-Mujaz fi al-Tibb, has a diagram of the eye and the visual system and a diagram of diagnosis by pulse.

Quaritch, Bernard 1993: Arabic Science and Medicine: A Collection of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books Illustrating the Spread and Influence of Arabic Learning in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Bernard Quaritch catalogue 1186. Published in London, Introduction by Professor Charled Burnett (1993).

Ekere, F.C. 1983: "The contribution of Islam to the spread of literacy and development of libraries during the rise of Islam in the Middle East, North Africa and the West African Sudan," Library Scientist, vol. 10, pp. 101-19.

Ibn Yunus 1804: Al-Zij al-Hakimi, or The Hakemite Tables (not all of which seems to have survived). Edited and translated into French in part by C. Caussin: Le livre de la grande table Hakemite par Ebn Jounis (Paris, 1804), pp. 16-240.

Al-Kindi: Al-Kindi wrote two treatises on mineralogy: Risala fi anwa al-jawahir al-thaminah wa ghayriha (Treatise on various types of precious stones and other kinds of stones) and Risalah fi anwa al-hijarah wa'l-jawahir (Treatise on various types of stones and jewels): see Abdulkader M. Abed 2003: Aspects of Mineralogy and Gemology in Muslim Civilisation.

Al-Ward, A. A. and Al-Fadhili, I. J. 1977: "The Arab origin of earth science (Geology)." In: Proceedings of the First International Symposium for the History of Arabic Science. Aleppo: University of Aleppo, vol. 1, pp. 347-387 (in Arabic).

Al-Kindi: Risala fi ‘illat al-lawn al-azraq alladhhi yura fi ’l-jaww fi jihat al-sama, or Treatise on the azure colour which is seen in the air in the direction of the heavens and is thought to be the colour of the heavens. Suleymaniye Library, Ayasofya, MS 4832/2.

Ibn al-Haytham: Kitab al-Manazir, or Book of Optics. See ‘Vision and Cameras’ section.

Al-Bakri: Kitab al-Masalik wa’l-Mamalik, or Book of Highways and of Kingdoms. Cambridge University Library, UK has the original text of the book by Abu Ubayd Al Bakri (1040–1094). The book also contains translations in Latin and Polish, published in 1946. Library/Call number 590:01.b.17.1.

Piri Re’is 1988: Kitab-i Bahriye, or The Book of Sea Lore or The Book of the Mariner or The Naval Handbook. Ed. by Ertugrul Zekai Okte; transcription Vahit Cabuk; Turkish text Vahit Cabuk, Tulay Duran; English text Robert Bragner. Ankara: Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Al-Qibjaqi: Kitab Kanz al-Tujjār fi ma’rifat al-Ahjar, or The Book of Treasure for Merchants who Seek Knowledge of Stones. The book was written in 1282 and dedicated to Sultan Qalaun. It is referred to and discussed in B. A. Rosenfeld and E Ihsanoglu, Mathematicians, Astronomers and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilisation and their Works (7th-19th c.). Istanbul: IRCICA, 2003, No. 649.

Ibn Majid, Shihab al-Din Ahmad 1981: Arab Navigation in the Indian Ocean before the Coming of the Portuguese: Being a Translation of ‘Kitab al-fawa’id fi usul al-bahr wa 'l-qawa’id’ of Ahmad b. Majid al-Najdi. Translated by G.R. Tibbets. London: The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Scanlon, George T. 2012: A Muslim Manual of War. Being Tafrij al-kurub fi tadbir al-hurub by ‘Umar ibn Ibrahim al-Awsi al-Ansari. Edited and translated by George T Scanlon; Foreword by Carole Hillenbrand. Cairo: The American University at Cairo. First edition 1961.

Al-Biruni 1998: Kitab al-Tafhim li-awa’il sina’at al-tanjim, or The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology, translated and edited by R. Ramsay Wright. Frankfurt: Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.

Al-Bitruji: Kitab-al-Hay’ah or Kitab al-murta’ish fi’l-hay’a, or Book of Cosmology. Library of the Topkapi Palace Museum, 3302/1. A 16th-century Latin translation of the manuscript is kept at Cambridge University Library, UK.